My foster child is a great enrichment
"I have just celebrated my first Christmas with my three-year-old foster child and found it to be a very enriching experience. If someone had told me that a year ago, I wouldn't have believed it. Being able to experience how little resources can give a little person a chance makes me grateful and very happy. Seeing how a child becomes more of a person every day and develops self-confidence and trust is worth more than anything else. It was and is the best decision I have ever made in my life. I haven't regretted a single day and would do it again and again."
Life with a foster child in permanent care
"The term "foster child" is very strange for me. Even if it happens from time to time that our son is called that from a formal point of view (offices, doctors...), I don't feel like a foster mother to him, but a mother. I also don't refer to Emil (name changed) as my/our foster son, but as my/our son or child. In my experience, the term, which is certainly also a fact and a reality, creates a distance that cannot be felt in our relationship with each other. For me, Emil is my/our son and I have never felt like a foster (mother) or in any way a service provider for the youth welfare office.
When my husband and I were looking for a foster child, this was certainly one of the concerns we had at the beginning, along with other fears and uncertainties: "Will we really be able to feel like mom and dad, or will there always be a little awareness that we are only involved in fostering and raising a child?"
Of course, I only know for us that, despite what were certainly very difficult starting conditions (our son came to us with quite a "thick package"), we are a very, very happy and completely "normal" family that constantly faces the challenges of everyday life anew.
Even if the reality of our lives has a different basis than the reality of the lives of our family friends or relatives, it is by no means worse, better or more problematic. It is simply different. Our children have a slightly different biography. A biography that is no more or less important than the individual history of children born in the flesh.
Being aware of this, being able to accept it and being prepared to live by it can be the greatest happiness that can happen to you - just like our son!"
Want a child? Foster child!
"Want to have children? We have been happy foster parents for about two years now and enjoy being able to accompany our foster daughter every day as she discovers the world.
Visits take place regularly, at four-weekly intervals. Our foster daughter then plays with her biological parents in the rooms of the youth welfare office, while we exchange experiences with the care service supervisor in a relaxed atmosphere and, if necessary, receive tips and support.
We are grateful and happy that our wish to see a child grow up in our family has come true and are now planning to continue our adventure and take in another foster child.